Thermal sensitization of acupoints in patients with knee osteoarthritis: A cross-sectional case-control study

Tu J, Wang X, Yan S, Wang Y, Yang J, Shi G, Zhang W, Jin L, Yang L, Liu D, Wang L, Mi B · Journal of Integrative Medicine · 2025 May

DOI 10.1016/j.joim.2025.03.004

Objective

To investigate thermal sensitization and skin temperature patterns of acupoints used for treating knee osteoarthritis.

Conclusions

Thermal sensitization occurs in lower-extremity acupoints among patients with knee osteoarthritis, with localized and regional thermal consistencies, and ST34, SP10, EX-LE2, EX-LE5, GB39, and BL40 may be suitable acupoints for acupuncture treatment.

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Insights

Knee osteoarthritis is associated with distinctive heat patterns at specific lower-limb acupuncture points, potentially guiding more targeted point selection.

This cross-sectional case-control study compared adults with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis with age- and sex-matched participants without knee osteoarthritis. Researchers used infrared thermal imaging to measure skin temperatures at eleven acupuncture points, comparing both absolute temperatures and temperatures relative to nearby reference areas. They also used statistical clustering methods to identify groups of points with shared temperature patterns and examined patient characteristics associated with these temperatures. People with knee osteoarthritis showed increased thermal sensitivity at several lower-limb acupuncture points, including points near the knee, thigh, calf, and ankle. These temperature changes displayed both localized patterns and regional consistency across clusters of related points, suggesting that infrared imaging may help identify acupuncture points most relevant to knee osteoarthritis treatment.